Damnation
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Damnation is the concept of ultimate (or severe) condemnation by God, as part of divine punishment (Mark 3:29). A being "in damnation" is said to be either in Hell, or living in a state wherein they are divorced from Heaven. A being who is said to be 'facing damnation' is one who must face the penalty of Hell.
Following the religious meaning, the words damn and goddamn are widely used as interjections and are considered profanity by some.
[edit] Religious
In some forms of Western Christian belief, damnation to hell is what humanity deserves for its sins, and only by the grace of God and salvation through Jesus Christ, can one atone for their sins and escape damnation. One conception is of eternal suffering and denial of entrance to heaven, often described in the Bible as burning in fire. Another conception, derived from the scripture about Gehenna is simply that people will be discarded (burned), as being unworthy of preservation by God. The reasons for being damned have varied widely over the centuries, from murder to dancing.
In Eastern Christian traditions (Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy), as well as some Western traditions, it is seen as a state of opposition to the love of God[1], a state into which all humans are born but against which Christ is the Mediator and Redeemer.
In traditional Christian belief, hell is located in a cavern inside the earth; some modern Christians have speculated that it might actually be located in a hidden dimension or a separate reality.[2]
[edit] Non-religious formal uses
Sometimes the word damned refers to condemnation by people, for example:
- A discussion guide from the California Council for the Humanities says "... The Grapes of Wrath was an immediate best-seller, widely praised and almost as widely damned throughout the country. ...".
- The common journalese expression "a damning report".
[edit] Colloquialisms
"Damn" is a mildly profane word used in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia. The use of "damn" in Rhett Butler's parting line to Scarlett O'Hara in the film Gone with the Wind in 1939 captivated moviegoers with "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
There is a persistent statement that the expression "I don't give a damn" has another origin and refers to a small Indian coin. Salman Rushdie, in a 1985 essay on the dictionary of Anglo-Indian terms 'Hobson-Jobson', ends with this: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a small copper coin weighing one tolah, eight mashas and seven surkhs, being the fortieth part of a rupee'. Or, to put it more concisely, a dam.".[3] But compare expressions such as "I don't give a tinker's cuss."
"God damn", or "Goddamn", is considered by some Christians - who believe using the phrase violates a religious taboo against invoking the name of God in vain - to be especially profane. The term is occasionally broadcast in the United Kingdom (usually through American imports, as it is seldom used in the UK), but it is not considered blasphemous.
"Damn" is also used colloquially as an emphatic exclamation; e.g. "Damn, he/she is fine" or perhaps "Damn, he has a nice car!". "Hot damn" may be used similarly, but it is somewhat distinct; for example, if one says, "Joe just won the lottery," a response of "Damn!" on its own can indicate disapproval, but "Hot damn!" indicates approval or surprise or pain.
"Damned" is also used as an adjective synonymous with "annoying" or "uncooperative," or as a means of giving emphasis. For example, "The damn(ed) furnace isn't working again!" or, "I just washed the damn(ed) car!" or, "The damn(ed) dog won't stop barking!" (The word "damned" is usually only used in North America, whereas in other English speaking countries the word is simply "damn".)
"Dang" or "darn" are sometimes used as euphemisms, specifically minced oaths, for "damn".
[edit] Etymology
Its Proto-Indo-European language origin is usually said to be a root dap-, which appears in Latin and Greek words meaning "feast" and "expense". (The connection is that feasts tend to be expensive.) In Latin this root provided a theorized early Latin noun *dapnom, which became Classical Latin damnum = "damage" or "expense". But there is a Vedic Sanskrit root dabh or dambh = "harm".
The word damnum did not have exclusively religious overtones. From it in English came "condemn"; "damnified" (an obsolete adjective meaning "damaged"); "damage" (via French from Latin damnaticum). It began to be used for being found guilty in a court of law; but, for example, an early French treaty called the Strasbourg Oaths includes the Latin phrase in damno sit = "would cause harm". From the judicial meaning came the religious meaning.
[edit] Distinguish from
Distinguish from "dam"; the words "dam" and "damn" and their derivative forms are sometimes confused in spelling.
The French prefix "Dam-" and similar seen in "Dampierre" and "Dampnedeu", "Dampnemarie", etc means "Lord" and is derived from Latin dominus.
[edit] See also
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Look up damn in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- fuck
- Afterlife
- Hell
- Imprecations (Bible)
- Problem of Hell
- The Prokletije mountains in Albania and Montenegro, whose name means "Damned".
[edit] References
- ^ This interpretation concerning Paradise and Hell is not only that of St. Isaac the Syrian and St. Basil the Great, but is a general teaching of the Fathers of the Church, who interpret apophatically what is said about the eternal fire and eternal life. When we speak of apophaticism we do not mean that the Fathers distort the teaching of the Church, speaking abstractly and reflectively, but that as they interpret these themes they try to free them from the categories of human thought and from images of sensory things13. On this point too one can see how the Orthodox-Greek Fathers differ from the Franco-Latins who considered these realities as created14.[1]
- ^ Where Is Hell?
- ^ Salman Rushdie's Hobson-Jobson essay, in the book Travelers' Tales India by James O'Reilly and Larry Habegger
[edit] Further reading
- The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners Jonathan Edwards, Diggory Press, ISBN 978-1-84685-672-3
